Saint: From Big Screen to Small Screen and Back Again

by Paul Simper

Published to tie-in with the release of the film of the same name, this book is a look at the film version of The Saint as well as the original TV series—its individual episodes, the actors, guest stars and the music.

95 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1997

Reviews

[Will Templeton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and informative, if merely in a lightweight fashion. I enjoyed it.

[Zantaeus Glom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful little compendium on a subject I previously knew very little about. This zesty overview of Leslie Charteris's immortal buccaneer proved to be a most welcome diversion from my usually strict diet of gonzoid sf and it has proven to be a useful primer to my continued investigations of the iconic saint. (being such a huge fan of Roger Moore I find it utterly absurd that it has taken me so blasted long to get round to one of his finest incarnations!)

I'm so glad I read this as it has fueled my escalating curiosity about Leslie Charteris's witty novels and short stories.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun if not informative enough book on a TV series that I liked when I was a kid, though the book is a poor place to learn about the Simon Templer/Saint character in books, film, radio, or comic books and strips (he appeared in all of these), the later TV series (there were two), or in foreign media. These are mentioned quickly and moved past to concentrate on the series that starred Roger Moore. About this the book is very revealing in the behind the scenes aspect. The author interviewed several people who made the series. It is also revealing in the critical reception of the time. The book is poor is giving a sense of what watching the show was like. Simper fails to give readers a real sense of a single episode, or of the effect of watching many. Because the book came out at the time of the forgettable SAINT movie in the nineties, and may have been partly financed by the production company, the last portion of the book is devoted to that film. This section probably tells readers more than most wish to know. This book does not serve fans of THE SAINT well, but it does serve fans of the Roger Moore TV series fairly well.